A slew of tenants have exited boutique luxury mall Scotts Square since October last year, but shoppers can look forward to new openings from as early as next month.

Foodies can head to two new-tomarket food-and-beverage concepts, slated to open next month.

A Hong Kong-style restaurant called London Fat Duck will open in the basement of the mall, serving roast duck like the ones made famous by restaurants such as Four Seasons and Gold Mine in Bayswater, London.

It is not to be mistaken with the acclaimed Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, England, by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.

Instead, it is a joint venture between two popular brands in the F&B scene - the Fei Siong and Akashi groups.

Fei Siong is well known for its affordable noodle chain Eat, but has more recently ventured into running Legendary Hong Kong restaurant at Jurong Point. The Akashi Group's stable of restaurants includes the Akashi Japanese Restaurant chain, upscale robatayaki grill restaurant Akanoya at Orchard Parade Hotel and casual gyoza restaurant Gyoza-Ya at The Heeren and Ion Orchard.

Akashi director Mervin Goh, 42, says he is good friends with Mr Tan Kim Siong, 45, one of the owners of Fei Siong.

On the restaurant's name, Mr Goh says: "It will get people talking. It's catchy. Many people are familiar with the popular ducks from Four Seasons in London and they also know about the Fat Duck restaurant."

The mid-priced casual restaurant will sell what he calls the "wagyu of ducks" and they have hired a Hong Kong chef to roast them. A farm in Ireland is supplying the birds.

Dimsum and congee will also feature on the menu.

Mr Goh adds that they chose to open at Scotts Square because of its "reasonable rental in the Orchard Road belt" and is confident that the ducks will draw diners.

Next to London Fat Duck will be Time & Flow Champagne, a wine-andchampagne bar featuring a range of organic wines mostly from France.

The bar will also conduct wine workshops in partnership with wine merchant Sarment Group.

The two new F&B brands join existing ones in the mall, such as cafes Wild Honey, Dome and Maison Kayser.

Scotts Square will also introduce two new fashion brands.

Opening their first flagship boutiques in Singapore are British luxury fashion house Alexander McQueen and leather brand Delvaux from Brussels.

On Level 2 of the mall, the Pedder Group will expand its offerings with a 20,000 sq ft outlet in the third quarter of this year.

The space will house a variety of concepts such as Market Place, for creative collaborations and fashion pop-ups; New Generation and Cool Kids, geared towards the younger crowd; and On Pedder Men's Store.

Addressing what seems like an exodus of tenants, Ms Stephanie Tay, group general manager of marketing for mall owner Wheelock Properties, says the shops closed at the end of the leasing cycle.

She says: "This is a small mall, so the minute you get a couple of shops boarded up, it gets magnified. We evolve and change. In the retail scene, we need to do something different and not simply replace one shop with another shop."

Ms Melissa Tan, 28, a marketing director who works in the Orchard Road area, is excited to see the hoarding for the London Fat Duck restaurant.

She says: "Singaporeans familiar with roast duck in London would be happy to know we have our own version. Hopefully, it lives up to the name, if not we will be disappointed.

"The mall bringing in brands that are not mainstream differentiates itself from others. More F&B outlets will help to bring in the crowds too."

The Straits Times

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